Humanity and Calamity

The serpent shadow let out an enraged roar.

In midair, it poured all of its black mud into the leaning building. The nearly liquid black ooze seeped seamlessly into every corner, determined to drown, crush, and devour Lin inside.

Its intelligence was not low. It could even devise traps that used human companions and cries to lure in other humans.

As far as it was concerned, humans were inferior creatures that shattered at the slightest touch, and whose attacks were like scratching an itch through a boot. If it caught one, even with the lightest contact, they would burst into a pool of blood.

So it blanketed the building, humanity's only hiding place, and then...

Detonated it.

"Boom!"

The building, now only one hundred and fifty meters tall, exploded from within and collapsed completely. Countless spike-like streams of fluid burst through from inside, shredding rebar, rubble, and office desks alike. Corpses of Deadwalkers and humans melted into sludge within the black mud.

But...

He was not there.

The massive creature landed and crushed the ground beneath it. Its snake-like eyes locked onto everything that had splattered out, but there was no sign of that human.

Had he been swallowed by the black mud, or...

Its beastly instincts sensed something. It looked up and saw the man suspended beneath the black clouds, drawing a cerulean blade.

"Rumble."

Lightning brewed within the thunderclouds, illuminating half of his helmet.

The visor, stained crimson with blood, stared fixedly at the Honkai Beast below like a vicious ghost.

"Shing."

The blade cleaved through the darkness like a cerulean crescent moon, slashing down from the sky toward the ground.

"Roar!"

Madness completely overtook its snake eyes. The black fluid seeping from its body surged beneath its massive form, becoming a snake head even larger than itself. It opened its huge jaws and bit toward the falling figure.

There was nowhere to evade.

The stench of death rushed toward him.

Lin stared at the snake maw, large enough to swallow dozens of him in a single bite.

But he did not need to dodge.

"Crack—"

He tossed the last grenade from his left hand, which had been hidden behind his back. At the same time, he fired his grappling hook toward the grenade's imminent explosion.

"Bang!"

A momentary opening was enough to decide the battle.

The back of the black-mud snake head exploded. A slender grappling hook lodged directly into the overlapping scales of the serpent shadow, pulling Lin, who had broken through the black mud, toward the Honkai Beast's enormous, serpentine head before it could react.

A meteor fell.

"Shing!"

The High-frequency Cutting Blade sank into the Honkai Beast's shell without the slightest hesitation. Using the inertia that had not yet faded and the pulling force of the grappling cable, Lin gritted his teeth and drove this critical blow to its fullest extent.

"Screech----------"

From head to abdomen, cerulean light carved a foul-smelling gash through the detestable monster.

"Aaaagh—"

This time, the Honkai Beast screamed in agony.

Its front had nearly been split in two by Lin's strike. Its soft, snake-like muscle structure collapsed, while black fluid poured endlessly from its wound like blood.

But that was not enough. Unless an Upper-class Honkai Beast's core was destroyed, it would never truly die. That was the most terrifying aspect of their regenerative ability as creatures made purely of Honkai Energy.

Lin crashed heavily onto the ground, coughing up a mouthful of blood that was half green and half red onto his screen. He had no time to catch his breath. He rolled over, hearing his bones and joints crack, picked up the High-frequency Cutting Blade, then leaped onto the Honkai Beast's gash, drilled inside, and began to slash.

Blood, fluid, rain—he could no longer tell what was pouring over him, or what was corroding his armor with hissing sounds.

He only slashed madly at every place he could reach, every place that might contain the core.

"Wail—wail—"

The Honkai Beast wailed. Countless spears formed from black mud stabbed toward the human rampaging inside its body. It poured all its strength into killing him, stopping him.

His abdomen was pierced through, the flesh at the side of his neck was torn open, and his legs were covered in dense bloody holes...

"Roar!"

Human and Honkai Beast both frantically sought to kill the other. At that moment, the disparity in their strength no longer existed. There was only raw savagery and killing intent.

Lin slashed tirelessly until the surrounding muscle tissue twitched without response and the wailing gradually weakened. Only then did he stop swinging and kneel before the core, now crushed into fragments.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

He could not feel pain, but his body's instincts still made him cough.

Lin grabbed the flesh around him for support and walked out through the wide opening he had carved.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

Lin turned to look at the motionless serpent shadow behind him, then slowly dropped to his knees, sitting in a small pool formed by blood and rainwater.

Blood seeped from all his facial features, though he could not see it. His injuries were enough to turn him into a rag doll fit for a secondhand market, yet he still could not feel any pain. Only his steadily cooling body temperature made him realize that he had reached his limit.

Connecting communications...

Lin numbly tried to connect the comms. He rose to his feet again and headed toward the evacuation route.

"Patter..."

The rain grew heavier.

"Thump."

What was that beating sound?

"..."

Lin's body froze in place.

He spun around.

What entered his sight was the Honkai Beast's "corpse," beginning to twitch again.

It was not dead?

He had clearly shattered its core.

More than one... core...

Lin recalled the Honkai Energy reading that far exceeded that of an ordinary Emperor-class Honkai Beast. His expression beneath the helmet twisted ferociously.

He immediately rushed toward the still-unhealed opening.

"Rumble!"

At that moment, a bolt of lightning descended from the sky and swallowed him whole.

Thunderclouds had gathered overhead at some point. A pair of violet-blue eyes looked down mercilessly upon everything below.

Humans and Calamity

"The Emperor-class Honkai Beast's Honkai Energy reading is dropping! It has fallen below the threshold! Great! Squad Five has successfully slain the Emperor-class Honkai Beast!"

Everyone in the temporary operations department bustled back and forth, passing documents, reports, battle plans, supply requests, and other materials to headquarters. The command staff frantically drafted new plans. So far, there had simply been too many variables in the Third Honkai War, and they still could not produce an effective strategy.

Located on the outskirts of Changkong City, they could not contact most combat squads within the city. Their monitoring equipment could only detect high Honkai readings and could not pinpoint the Herrscher's exact location, so they could only send squads barely able to receive signals toward those areas.

The feeling was like being blindfolded, deafened, stuffed into a sack, and beaten without any ability to fight back.

The Honkai was constantly growing stronger, and it was nowhere near its end. That was what the Third Honkai War felt like to them.

Then, a loud cheer broke through the deathly yet busy atmosphere. The monitor slammed both hands onto the desk in delight, producing a sharp bang.

"Monitor Carl! We are in the middle of operations! What are you shouting about?!" The already irritated head of the command department also slapped the desk and stood up. He glared at the oblivious monitor and roared in a low voice.

"Uh..." The monitor stared blankly at him, then scratched the back of her head with a foolish grin. "Oh, I was saying that the Emperor-class Honkai Beast has been slain."

"What is there to celebrate over one Honkai Beast being slain... Wait, what did you say?" The head of the command department's impatient hand abruptly froze in midair. Thinking he had misheard, he asked in disbelief.

Everyone's eyes focused on the monitor. One after another, they stared at her in astonishment.

The Emperor-class Honkai Beast's reading had been confirmed half an hour ago, had it not? It had been slain after so little time?

Only when so many people stared at her did the monitor realize that she had overstepped. She hurriedly stood and gave a military salute, saying seriously, "The Third Herrscher's accompanying Upper-class Honkai Beast fell below the Honkai Energy threshold one minute and thirteen seconds ago. It can be confirmed dead."

"It was slain? By whom?"

"Squad Five!"

The head of the command department searched his memory for Squad Five's roster, and his furrowed brows relaxed. "Squad Five... Himiko's squad? Headquarters assigned them a search-and-rescue mission. I did not expect them to take down an Emperor-class Honkai Beast along the way."

"A search-and-rescue mission? Aren't they a dedicated support team?"

The monitor's delighted smile abruptly vanished as she asked in confusion.

"Bang!"

The temporary operations department's door was violently kicked open. A dark crimson figure rushed in through the curtain of rain and gently lowered the black-haired girl on her back to the floor.

A white-haired boy and a girl with inner highlights followed close behind. Rainwater streamed continuously from their bodies, gathering into a puddle at their feet in no time.

The coldness of the torrential rain pouring through the door made everyone shudder.

Before anyone could react, the dark crimson figure crossed the room in a few quick strides, grabbed Monitor Carl by the shoulders, and fixed her with a fierce stare. "Were you the one who said the Emperor-class Honkai Beast had been slain?"

"You, you are?"

"Answer me!"

"Yes! The Emperor-class Honkai Beast was slain by Squad Five... Huh? That voice... Aren't you Squad Five's captain, Himiko?"

After confirming that she had not misheard, Himiko's expression loosened. She held her head and let out a breath of relief.

Moon, who was helping Mei up, merely closed her eyes and murmured in relief, "Thank goodness... Thank goodness..."

"That bastard Lin. I told him to keep it occupied, and he went and slew the Honkai Beast outright. He really does have some skill." After muttering to herself, Himiko wiped the rainwater from her chin and revealed a gratified smile. "Moon, let's go. We're bringing him back."

The head of the command department clearly had not grasped the situation yet. He called out to Himiko, who had only just entered and was already preparing to leave. "Captain Himiko, please wait. Weren't you fighting the Emperor-class Honkai Beast?"

Himiko stopped. After thinking for a moment, she shook her head. "No. Our primary mission was to rescue Miss Mei. We have now escorted our target here. Please be responsible for protecting her."

"Then who slew the Emperor-class Honkai Beast?"

"My squad member, Lin." Himiko took a deep breath. She could not wait any longer. Lin must have been injured after fighting the Honkai Beast. The priority was to bring him back.

"Lin? That guy who got in good with the Head of Research and Development and uses excess equipment no one else can get?" The head of the command department frowned. He remembered that name well; it had become prominent over the past few months. "Looks like Delta gave him some advanced equipment again. Hmph. Instead of equipping other soldiers with advanced gear, they give it to a brat who only knows how to curry favor. That is why I opposed Delta becoming Head of Research and Development from the beginning. If the other soldiers had new equipment like his, how could things be this difficult..."

Lin had joined MOTH less than half a year ago, yet his record was more brilliant than that of most soldiers who had enlisted before him. Could an ordinary person who had never set foot on a battlefield truly achieve such things?

This solo hunt of an Emperor-class Honkai Beast proved that Lin's equipment was definitely more advanced than that of other soldiers. After the battle, he would have to confront Lin and Delta about why they did not put advanced equipment into mass deployment.

"What do you mean by that?" Himiko's gaze suddenly darkened. She lowered the hand holding her luggage, her left foot quietly stepping a small pace forward. It was the unconscious prelude to an attack.

At a time like this, a commander questioning his subordinates and comrades and speaking words that disrupted morale was unacceptable.

Even Moon lowered her gaze toward the head of the command department.

The head of the command department refused to back down, glaring right back. "What I mean is..."

"Please end this pointless argument here." A cool female voice interrupted the dispute before it could erupt.

Mei calmly wrung the water from her soaked hair and casually draped it behind her head. She pushed up her fogged glasses, and those eyes—always so calm that they seemed devoid of emotion—swept over everyone present.

She wore only a student uniform, yet that gaze made people shiver.

"The operation is not over. Give me Changkong City's energy... it is called Honkai Energy, correct? Give me the Honkai Energy graphs and high-concentration distribution maps, as well as your drafted battle plans and the coordinates of every combat squad."

"Also, adjust the room temperature and humidity to twenty-two degrees and forty-nine percent respectively. Now, please..."

"Move."

Mei's self-directed speech was like a freezing ray that turned a lake to ice. Her following gaze was like a heavy hammer shattering that frozen surface, causing everyone to begin moving in an orderly manner once more.

No one knew who she was, but the absolute rationality in her words was chilling enough that no one dared question her.